Grand Hotel Palace Ancona

... worried about our travel Visa running out before we were done…If anything I thought that Greece would be rushed after Italy, but it looks like things have reversed.

Well at least I have supper tonight and ½ day tomorrow (that is if Brian doesn’t make us get to the ferry terminal too early).

Ciao Bella Italy! I wish I could have got to know you better. Here’s to another return in times of warmer weather.

... land is covered in ruins, and monuments and churches because that is their history, their claim to fame, the bearing of who they are and what they have come from.... Churches, is where this brings me to. I have seen many churchs. I have stepped inside them and basked in their light, in their domineering presence. I can appricate them, I can see them as a beautiful building that doesn't require me to worship it. (Now I ...

Arrived early in the morning and it took us forever to get off the boat. No kind of organisation at all and then we had to queue for an age to go thru customs in the van, but then we were on our way. I was driving and got my first taste of Italian traffic... oh my god. It was crazy and we werent really sure where we were going and neither was Harriet our GPS. I love how everyone just pulls out wherever they ...

... The food looked a bit average but we ate it anyways. Dan had a nice mussel saganaki tomato soup/stew thing and I had calamari. Calamari that had both the little squiddy bits and white fleshy bits in nice batter with chips. It was edible but not fantastic..we had a Greek salad with it..as it is the thing to do in greece. The wind was very windy, taking table umbrellas with it..the water looked lovely though and we went for a walk with an ice cream ...

Off to the beach today, that is pretty much all there is to do in Ancona. Beautiful day though. 30min bus ride to get to the beach. The water was amazing, bright blue with white pebbles.

Got a little burnt! Everyone at the beach was so tanned!!!! even the babies!!!

... vista of lumpy and spiky territory. Getting towards level ground again, we came down towards the dual carriageway at Bagni di Romagna and were relieved to spot a petrol station. It was only self-service and, though we were sure it took notes, we weren't quite sure how to operate it. Therefore, Paul ventured into the attached cafe and - in his words - "bowed" at the girl inside, informed her (in Italian!) that he didn't speak Italian, and ...

... the evening on the net and managed to fix the phone GPS on line and freakily our friend Bob from Australia was on line and he chatted to him and found out he was going to the UK and we were planning to catch up in London in July so a stroke of luck there. Meanwhile the ferry coursed its way up the coast between Albania and across to Italy overnight. The weather remained ...

We took an overnight ferry from Ancona, Italy to Split in Croatia. We made friend with an American professional harp player, called Bob. He was great fun and a really interesting chappy. We had these silly reclining chairs (or not!) to sleep in. I tried everything to get to sleep and eventually ...

After a week of sunshine and hard work we have now got into the rain period. Tons of work here in the shipyard, but at the same time very interesting how it all works. I live in a rather big house with the captain about 20 minutes south of Ancona in a little town called Numana. It's a nice little town with a marina, tons of resturants, big ...

... a week on a religious pilgrimage, you'd think people would be more patient, reflective, and full of the Lord's spirit. I guess there's nothing in the Bible that says, "Thou shalt not push and yell at your fellow passengers when trying to board or find your seat on a ship." A week with JC, it seemed, had absolutely no bearing on how people should be treated once outside the cathedral doors, and I thought Alli was going to knock this woman flat out when she tried to elbow her way past ...